Here it is! This chapter is dedicated to erin - who left me two amazing reviews, and even had the best idea for a songfic to fit this story – and also to many others. The last chapter got the best reviews! They all made me laugh. XD

﻿Beautiful Chapter Image by Marit @ tda.
Victoire Weasley

James padded down the landing, repeatedly creaking the floorboards as he ran from one end to the other, and then back again. “WAKE UP!” He flung open Lily’s bedroom door and slammed it behind him.

He tugged lightly on the bottom of my sheets. “It’s Christmas!”

Lily groaned and rolled off of her bed, landing on a sleeping little me on the floor. I shoved her back, groaning in response. I grudgingly sat up and looked at the time.

“5:04?” I moaned. “James Sirius Potter, go back to sleep!”

“Never!” he retaliated, pulling harder on my duvet. I clung on, rolling on to my front and d holding on to the sheets like they were my prize possession.

I opened my eyes fully only to see darkness and a teenage boy jumping up and down. It was too early for light to come through the gaps in the curtains, so in its place was a sort of murky green light from the forest.

“Fantastic, I have woken up in Lord of the Rings.” Lily grumbled quietly.

“UP UP UP!” James shouted again, I was surprised that he didn’t wake the whole house up. The tugging stopped, I relaxed.

“I don’t care how, just make him stop.” Lily muttered in my ear.

“He’s your brother.”

“He’s your best friend - I'm stuck with him by blood, you're not!”

“Point taken.” I grumbled. “Come on love.” I sat, opening the covers on my bed, gesturing for him to climb in.

The mattress sank a little, mainly due to the Chaser that lay down never to me. My heart rate to increased a worrying amount. He paused, my heart slowed, the covers were then ripped from my grasp and the cold winter air hit my bare arms and legs.

“No.” Lily stated, crawling away on all fours. “I will not just lay here while the two of you have a bed … snog fest!” She challenged, slightly lost for words before getting up and stumbling to what I thought would probably be James’s room.

“Ignore her; we’ll have a fantastic snog fest.”

“Yes, you have fun.” I stated. “While I sleep.” I added, grabbing the pillow and putting it over my head in a sad attempt to hide my blush. If only he was serious about having a snog fest.

“No.” He wailed, “You can’t do this to me.”

“Let go, of the pillow.” I ordered, grumbling from under the pillow. It was rather threatening.

“You know you were never a morning person Wolfy.” He mumbled like a child. He gave up at tugging as I only tugged harder from my end before lying down next to me and placing the covers over us both. “Sleep.” He finished quietly.

“What?” I asked confused. “You usually keep this up for half an hour before even you even begin to calm down.” I said, removing the pillow from the top of my head to under it.

“Yeah well, now that you’re older, I believe that you need your sleep, those aching bones and all.”

“You make me sound like I’m 90.” I whispered. Opening my eyes lazily and staring at James’s muscles. Damn Quidditch and the excessive training. He looked good, wait ….. Better than good. He looked amazing. His muscles were defined, perfect in every way. A defined line of hair below his belly button – eyes up!

Of course I had seen this before, but I had never really looked at them. I had only seen James, I had never judged on his looks, but now that I noticed them … Merlin, save me.

“You’re not 90, just older than you were five years ago.” He stated, like it was an equation that he had spent years figuring out.

“Obviously.” I stated giggling. I shut my mouth instantly and flushed a delicate shade of pink. I have never before in my life giggled like a gangly girl.

“Charisma Imogen Price.” He said laughing quietly. “Did you just giggle?”

“Would this entire situation go away if I answered no?”

“No.” He said, elongating the one syllable word. “Now sleep, because I don’t want you grumpy on Christmas morning, you’ll just depress everyone.” I didn’t want to answer that I was probably doing that anyway.

“You’re infuriating you know that?” I mumbled.

“I do try.”

“The question was rhetorical.”

I soon drifted off. When my eyes fluttered open, daylight was streaming through the closed curtains. I prepared to scream something like ‘I’m melting.’ And do a direct acting scene of the Witch from Wizard of Oz, but refrained when I felt a weight on my hip.

A toned muscled arm rested protectively around my waist. I blinked in surprise as I realized its owner. I uttered a giddy prayer to god before snuggling back down in to the covers. I pulled the mass of purple over my head, causing James’s face to be covered too and his toes to stick out fro the end.

I hadn’t realized the proximity of him to me until I elbowed him in the chest, causing a low snore to erupt from his throat. We were no more than a millimetre apart. His breaths lightly tickled my neck, a shiver shot down my spine and his am tightened.

He pressed his body tightly to the back of mine, before beginning to snore. I stifled a laugh as the door burst open.

“GUYS IT’S- oh” Lily shouted in shock. She stood rooted to the spot as she noticed our position. “Oooooh, total bad timing.” She muttered, closing the door behind her.

Damn Lily. James groaned and came to his senses. “Wha-?” He asked, in a half form of what?

He retracted his arm in one fast movement. In that one motion, he pulled away, taking my heart with him.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered, obviously embarrassed.

“It’s ok.” I whispered shrugging. “If it’s any consolation, you’re really pretty when you sleep.” I said without thinking.

Jesus, please tell me I did not just say that out loud.

He smiled and rubbed his eyes lazily, rolling on to his back. “Thank you Wolfy.” He said smiling. “And you’re always beautiful to me.” He added grinning. “Even when your hair looks like a nest.”

“Where else would I keep my pets?” I asked innocently, before we both broke out in to hordes of laughter.

“James?” I asked, after a momentary silence.

“Mmm-hm.” He murmured.

“It’s Christmas.”

That awoke him, he didn’t need another second before he was up and pulling me down the stairs, in to the living room.

We got to the step where the staircase changes direction when I jumped on James’s back. He grabbed my legs and piggy backed me in to the living room before collapsing on to the sofa and rolling on to the floor, pulling me down on top of him.

Harry hugged Ginny close to him as they watched the two of us in laughter.

“PRESENTS!” I exclaimed and began to crawl away, under the coffee table towards the Christmas tree.

James quickly retaliated and pulled me back. “Oh no you don’t, not before me!”

“Never!” I vowed, jumping on to his back and then crawling over him. My knees were stinging from carpet burn.

“They’re worse than the kids.” Ginny mumbled.

“It’s getting worse with age.” Harry stated, loudly, so that we would over hear. Lily and Albus sat down crossed legged at the base of the gigantic green tree with such pace that the delicate silver decorations rattled and shook.

“Kids, be careful.” Harry asked, sitting down on the sofa with his wife.

“Sorry Mr. Potter.” I said smiling sweetly.

Ginny smiled back, as if she hadn’t seen my smile in a long time. I laughed quietly and turned around to join Albus and Lily, only to be rugby tackled to the floor by my Quidditch Captain.

When the extreme sports eventually came to an end, Lily began lobbing presents to their rightful owners. I did all of our shopping on the girly day out that we had a few days ago, and spent as much as I felt like. I guess that was the upside of having access to unwilling parents bank accounts – but I guess they’re mine now.

I did my usual for Lily, Al, Rosie and Hugo. I always give them something between 80 and 100 Galleons so they can spend it on what they want.

Ginny and Harry, this year I had let Ginny pick out her own gift. She always refuses to spend much and always insists that I buy them nothing, but what can I say, they are like my parents. They are getting a Muggle device called a television, I had to escape to refrain myself from death0by-laughter as Albus stroked the screen in a pathetic attempt to turn it on.

I ran back up to Lily’s room and grabbed my scarf; James’s present will need the garden and probably a whole lot of cheeky retorts. I yanked open Lily’s sock drawer and rooted around for a pair of fluffy socks, something scrunched in the back. I reached in and pulled out two identical presents. I recognized them immediately.

Mum and Dad
Merry Christmas
Charisma.
Simple, the tag alone took me half an hour to write, the constant unknowing of what to say. A small tear threatened to fall over, I wiped it away before it had the chance and stuffed the packages angrily in to the dresser. Lily was going to get rid of them, she said that she did.

The two talking diaries, they talked your day back to you and told you when to leave, taking in the account of time for traffic systems at the Ministry and the weather. I stared at the before slamming the sock drawer closed.

I slammed my fist down. The glass bottles on the top of the chest of drawers rattled.

“-ldy mother, no I will not sing Christina Warbeck for Grandma.” Lily muttered, walking through the doorway. I looked up and deeply breathed out, the broken sound was jumpy, even as it came from my mouth. She looked from the socks to the dresser, to the half open draw. The unruly overflow of socks disallowed it to shut properly. She knew.

She stuttered. “I…I, you weren’t supposed to kno-“

“When I ask you to do something Lily, I expect you to do it.”

I stormed past her in a sulkiest fashion and pulled on the socks at the top of the stairs. This wasn’t going to ruin Christmas.

James was always a tricky buy. The cheeky beggar pointed out his long lasting love for his gift list October, It took a while. But I found one.

A loud form of grunting came from the living room. “How do you turn the bloody thing on?” Albus asked, smacking the side of the television that was currently levitating in the middle of the room.

“The on button.” I stated simply, picking up and flicking through the manual in one hand and a box of chocolates (a gift from Lily) in the other. Chocolate being my usual favourite gift in the world, it shocked me, when I placed it back down on to the table and sat down next to Harry. It was just sitting there, the best gift in the world.

Well … this year it could be rivalled with a little kiss from a certain black haired boy?

“You really are stupid sometimes you know that kids.” Harry said grinning from the sofa. “You need electricity to get a TV to work, something that we don’t have. I’ll get it set up later today.”

“Wait, don’t you have a toaster?” I asked absentmindedly.

“Yeah, it’s run by magic though, but the spell won’t work for the TV.”

I smiled. “And for all these years I thought that you were electricity crazy.”

I laughed and smiled at Ginny who was throwing pieces of festive pop-corn at the TV screen, probably not what you’re supposed to do with it, but still, its fun.

I had tinsel plaited in to our hair, Ginny had hers done shortly after. “Mum,” Albus said from the floor. “I’m not going out with you today if you still have that in your hair. You look like a right twat.” Did he think that about me too?

“Albus!” Harry scolded.

“You look fine.” James whispered in my ear, reading my mind. “I stick by what I said earlier.” You’re always beautiful to me, even when your hair looks like a nest.

My stomach flipped a little at the memory. I pierced my lips together and smiled, hunching my shoulders up. “Thank you, can I do your hair now?” I whispered back.

“Like I would let you touch my perfect hair Miss. Price.” He answered tickling me. Attempting to suppress squeals of laughter, and failing, we attracted the attention of the room.

“What are you whispering about over there?” Ginny asked, still practicing her popcorn aim on the television screen.

“Don’t say, I don’t want to know.” Harry stated, covering his wife’s mouth and pulling her off the sofa to join him on the floor.

I loved it when they acted like me and James sometimes, like they were teenagers once more. I guess, when you consider it, Harry and Ginny didn’t get childhoods, they were fighting the ‘big bad’.

“Oh ha ha dad.” James said sarcastically. “Secretly you do want to know.”

I blinked and ran out in to the garden, unable to find my shoes. I shook my head, causing a little of my hair to fall in to my face and yawned, waiting for James to catch up.

“You got me a … garden?” he asked spinning around in a circle.

I caught him and made him stand still. “Wow.” He spelled out. “Head rush!”

“You’re weird.”

“Say’s wolf girl.”

“Point taken, but just close your eyes, ok?” I asked placing my hand over his face. He attempted to put his hand over mine, missed and placed it on my shoulder instead. I guess so we could match – badly. I pulled my wand from pyjama bottoms and pointed it to the sky.

“Accio Broom.” I whispered, so low that he couldn’t understand and pointed my wand towards the middle of the forest, where I had hidden it late last night with Albus.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?” He shouted, like I was deaf.

“Why are you shouting?” I asked quickly, not taking my hand away from his eyes.

“I don’t know, spur of the moment thing.”

It flew in from afar, well, the outskirts of the nearby woods, so maybe 20 feet. I caught the broom and smiled at James. He must have felt the rush of wind as he opened his eyes, pulled my hand from his face and his from my shoulder. She stood there, shell shocked.

His face froze when he saw the Firebolt. Pure joy. He used his fathers Firebolt until third year, when a Quidditch accident caused the Whomping Willow to take charge. McGoogles muttered ‘like father like son’ before leaving a crying James and the pieces of broom on the end of his Hospital Wing bed.

“Is this … is this for me?”

I handed him the broom. “Well now that you mention it, I got it for myself and I just thought that I would wave it in your face. In fact I actually got you the garden.”

He took it from my grip gently, still in shock. Firebolts are one of the rarest things to get a hold of. The last of the makers was killed off during the First Wizarding World War.

There was a Man in Romania who was selling one. I asked Charlie Weasley, James’s Uncle, if he would be willing to lend his assistance. He was happy enough to oblige. Uncle Charlie was more than happy his help ‘his little C’. Apparently this poor Romanian man had a fear of dragons, helpful no?

James mounted his broom and turned to face me.

“Get on.” He stated simply, pulling on an old pair of worn Quidditch gloves that he had in his Pyjama pocket (I would have to ask him about that later).

“What?”

“Come on, the first ride on this Firebolt in the Potter’s possession,” James smiled my favourite smile. “Come with me?” He whispered. I bit my lip, shoved my wand in to my boot and climbed on in front of him. He wrapped one his left arm around my waist, holding on to me tightly and held on to the broom with his right.

We pushed off the ground and flew up over the forest.

The cold air rushed through my body. James pressed firmly against my back; he would never let me fall. We leaned forward, increasing the speed of the Firebolt. My pyjama top tight against my chest as the broom sped up.

“WHOOOOOOOO!” James screamed loudly, practically deafening me in the process. He pulled the broom to a halt. We were so far off the ground; the trees were in miniature.

“So what do you think?” I asked him innocently.

“What do I think?” A cheeky grin drawn over his face, his wind swept hair looked gorgeous; god only knows what mine resembled. “Best present … ever!” he shouted, pushing the broom to an amazing speed.

Laughing, we fell through the doorway to the Potters country home.

“There you are.” Ginny said smiling at us.

“We thought that you’d disappeared.” Harry added worriedly.

“Unfortunately, you came back.” Lily finished.

“Thanks lil sis!” James greeted happily. “I love you with all of my heart you know that?” he asked, enveloping her in to a gigantic bear hug.

“What the hell did you get him for Christmas Chic, crack?” Ginny asked while watching her daughter being smothered to death.

“No.” James answered dismissively. “Dad, she got me a Firebolt. Look.” He added thrusting the broom to his father. Harry smiled and looked down at the gift.

“Now, this brings back memories.” Harry added, running his hand over the stick of the broom.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah Dad, we don’t wanna hear about the good old days.” Lily said, swiping the Firebolt from her father’s grip. “Now this is beautiful.”

“A work of art.” James agreed. I smiled and leant back in to the sofa.

“You know that he won’t shut up about that thing now don’t you Wolfy.” Albus asked, collapsing on to the seat next to me.

“Yeppo!” I answered simply. Grinning like a child who was just given an ice-cream for the first time.

“It’s good to have you back Chic.” He said turning back to the television. “Seriously, what possessed you to buy this.” He asked, throwing his hand up in a gesture.

I smirked. “To know that you have to enter my mind.” I answered grinning.

“Yeah forget that I asked.” Albus announced slightly worried. I shrugged and went to retrieve my book.

I laughed. “I totally remember that.” He smirked and looked up at me. “Snake, snake, knickers.” I added, grinning down at him.

“Seriously, where did you get that from?”

“That question takes us back to the beginning of this conversation, you wanna loop it again?” I babbled happily.

“You got that right.” He muttered as he picked up the TV control and began running his fingers over the buttons.

Lily looked up from running her fingers over the broom; she blinked apologetically in my direction. I could see in her face that she was upset. It’s Christmas, no one deserves to be upset. I smiled at her and she knew that she was forgiven.

“KIDS!” Ginny shouted from the top of the stairs. “We’ve got half an hour before we have to be at, Mum’s for Christmas Lunch, so go and make yourselves look presentable.”

Al rolled his eyes. “Or?”

His mother’s eye roll could be hypothetically heard throughout the country. “Or, Albus Potter, I will hunt you down and kick your arse to Timbuktu! Get up here you last sod!”

Albus grudgingly stomped up the stairs, followed by James, he skipped the first step, as always and ran his rough hand up the banister. Lily looked to me with a contrasted look to mine, mine was pure excitement.

The Burrow; the headquarters for the Wotter Christmas Celebrations. An entire family, that reproduce quicker than rabbits, cram themselves in to the old house of where the Weasley children were raised. Uncle Percy and the kids moved back in to the house last year. Molly and Arthur refuse to admit that they are actually incapable of doing some chores. Percy moved back in purely for the reason of assisting their safety.

During my first year with the Potters, Ginny would tuck me in to bed and tell me tales of her childhood. James and Lily would be on the outside of the duvet and listening intensly. They would consist of the the torturing her brothers would make her endure, they haw she would retaliate and wound up in more trouble than it was worth. Then the whole thing would be brought crashing down by Harry who would spoil the excitement by admitting the sections that were indeed, pure exaggeration. By fifth year, I had heard the tale of James’s father many times, it was my favourite. How the Death Eaters attacked The Burrow and Ginny ran to chase Bellatrix Lestrange, only to be saved by Harry. As I got older, she added romance to the tales, the bits that the world doesn’t know about. They were the best.

I pulled the red dress from its coat hanger. Lily had picked it out. The fabric clung to my figure immensely, leaving me no room for the art of breathing. The prefect red hem seized at my knees and flared freely. A tight corset hugged at my chest, while a red ribbon tied at the waist.

“You know, I’m seriously considering going in the Halloween costume.” I announced to Lily as she sat on the bed in a beautiful black and white dress.

“Well, I would join you, but I would have to dress as a gypsy, that according to James makes me look like a homeless person.”

“Sweetie.” I said, placing a hand delicately on her shoulder. “You always look like a homeless person.”

She looked at me, open mouthed before getting a tube of red lipstick and smudging it across my face.

“Oh no you didn’t.”

“Chic … I just did.” She said dramatically.

“Ok.” I answered shrugging and turning away, wiping it off with magic. This would annoy her the most, not giving her a reaction.

“Oh just go home Wolfy.” She finished annoyed, storming out of the room and going downstairs. She’d forgive me later.

“What up with her?” James asked, standing in the doorway.

“Well, she smudged lipst-“ I began, turning around to face him. I stopped dead in my tracks. He looked so different, good different. I was so used to seeing him in old ripped sweats and school uniform. This…this was a total transformation. He cleaned up really well.
Not that I hadn’t seen him before like this, I had just never looked at him in this way before either. Jesus, what the hell am I thinking?

“What, too much?” He asked, looking down at his smart trousers and shoes, he had a purple shirt that wasn’t tucked in and was buttoned only half way.

“No, just right.” I answered walking towards him.

“I prefer you in pyjamas.” He stated, causing me to blush furiously, seriously, why he had this affect on me now, after all of these years, I will never know. Luckily he didn’t notice my embarrassment. Then I realised that this was the exact same thing that Nate had said to me all those months ago. Why did Nate just come in to my head?

I stepped forward and began to do the buttons up on his shirt.

“Hey, Wolfy, what are you doing?” He asked taking my hands.

“I’m doing up your shirt boy, you can’t go to your families celebration with you looking like a prostitute now can we?” I replied cheekily.

“And why not?”

“That doesn’t even need to be dignified with an answer James.” I answered laughing. My spine sagged in relief as he released my hands. I delicately fastened the buttons of his shirt and fixed his lopsided tie.

“Why can’t you just let me be a professional playboy.” It took me a moment to work out whether or not he was joking.

“I’m kidding love.” He told me, grinning at my stupidity. “You looked beautiful.” I grinned and looked up at him, patting him on the chest.

My hair was ringleted, Lily did it. I had no say. It fell down to my lower back, the crazy curls now tight and perfect. A red bow was fastened in to the right side of my hair.

“Yeah, well you don’t look to bad yourself Potter.” He nodded his head and grinned.

“I do try.”

“Come on, I bet you 20 Galleons that something out of the ordinary will happen today.” He raised his eyebrows to an inhuman extent. “I mean out of the ordinary for your family, if that’s even possible.”

“Fine, you’re on. I will take that bet and up it to 30 because nothing ever happens at these things. Out of the ordinary, I mean. Fred smashing windows and Dom throwing up over Lucy’s bed doesn’t count.”

If only he knew.

“She just walked out; seriously after all of the crap that she put others through, she just went home?”

He burst in to hordes of laughter. “You could give Minnie a run for her money.”

“I’m not that bad am I?” I asked quietly.

“Not yet.” Molly answered on my left. Molly was Percy Weasley’s oldest daughter, a year younger than Lucy Weasley. They couldn’t be more different. Molly was like Lily, probably from spending too much time with the two of us, where as Lucy was very quiet but a closet Evie Lewis twin.

They should do some serious CSI shit on those two, because one of them has to be adopted.

“Why thank you Molly, and when you start Hogwarts in September, and I am in my final year, I will remember this conversation and pass messages on to all of your teachers about how horrible and uncontrollable you are.” I said, mussing up her hair. She scowled Lily’s scowl and then smirked.

“Oh and remember, you give them full permission to beat her if she doesn’t behave.” Louis added thoroughly enjoying the conversation.

“Obviously, I can’t forget that one.”

“You two are evil.” She muttered, but you could see the amusement in her eye.

“And proud.” Lou and I announced in unison, we high fived and laughed.

“Louie sweetie.” Dominique, his older sister, asked from beside him. “Congrats you are well on the way to being gay.”

She shoved a pile of mash potatoes on to her fork and then giggled. She was fun to be around, she was sarcastic, but not mean. Her conversations were incredibly interesting.

I looked down the table towards Victoire and Teddy, who were engrossed in a conversation with Ginny and her father Arthur Weasley. Today they would announce their engagement. Teddy still hadn’t looked me in the eye. I was wondering if he would do it. Either of them.

Teddy rose from the table and banged a glass with his knife. It smashed in his hand. Anyone under the age of 25 sniggered. Victoire sent me a worried smile, knowing it had more than one meaning. I returned something similar, I missed Teddy. He was my rock. My partially-adult-rock. His face was torn, his expression happy, but still pained. A light scar ran down the right side of his face, his mark, one he received from fighting a pack of untamed wolves last year. They thought that he would be best for the job.

The he sighed and swallowed, his voice was horse, as if unused. He had probably reacted similarly to me in the past few weeks.

“Merry Christmas everyone.” He began, placing the smashed glass on to the table and letting the little shards fall. “How is everybody?”

“Get on with it.”

“Shut up Fred.”

Victoire put her head in her hands, knowing that the sentence would never come out. The simple little sentence would never make its way from her fiancé’s mouth.

“-No you suck!”

“Back. Off!”

“I’m more mature than you two!”

“Louis don’t get involved.” I said, placing my hand on to his.

Dom laughed. “No let him, it’s a show right?”

“I’m with Charisma on this one. Your poor brother.”

I smiled. “Thank you Lysander.” He smiled, and kissed his girlfriend on the head. He and Dom were me and James at school best friends and inseparable. I guess it worked out better for them than it will for me.

“Oh my god! I hate you!”

James sniggered while Aunt Angelina stood up and smacked her son around the head. “Fred, put the chair down!”

“I’m hungry.” Lucy moaned, folding her arms and twisting her nail file between her fingers.

“MOLLY!” Uncle Percy was shocked at his 10 year old daughter’s language. She giggled and high fived me under the table. I wouldn’t usually condone the language of Molly, but I seem to have a small and sudden dislike for Lucy Weasley.

“Were getting married!” Victoire exclaimed, pushing her chair back with such a force as she stood up it ended toppled over in the kitchen.

“Well finally.” Uncle Bill said, nearly smashing his head on to the table infront of him.

“Took ya long enough guys.” Ron stated sitting opposite them, shovelling the last of his mashed potatoes in to his mouth.

“Fred! Chair!”

Teddy held her hand supportively, he knew that she was embarrassed, and didn’t want to be the one to say it. He would apologize later, they would argue then he would kiss her lips lightly and all would be forgiven. I have seen it many times before, it has worked in his favour every time.

“You knew.” Ginny mouthed to me from the other end of the table. I nodded inconspicuously before smiling and clapping along with everyone else to show their support.

“AND IF YOU HURT HER I’LL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!” Louie shouted from beside me. Molly and I sucked in a breath to hold back the laughter that was about to burst. Albus, once again, being the tactful boy that he is, had no trouble showing it.

“I’d like to see you try boy!” Teddy retaliated from across the room, thus earning a playful slap from Victoire.

“Hurt my little brother and I’ll take you on.” She said, causing the room to laugh. He instantly backed off. It was a well known fact that Victoire could probably take down anyone, even Teddy in Werewolf form.

I looked over to a shocked James and smiled. He returned it, making my heart leap. I broke the loving moment easily.

30 Galleons I mouthed.

It was that moment that the door bell rang. Molly Weasley stood up from the table with a motherly elegance that only she possessed. “Who could that be?”

Arthur shrugged. “Everyone’s here.”

“Did anyone invite anyone else?”

The table was silent. “Uh, mum.” Percy said, retracting the curtains from the window. “It’s the ministry.”

Teddy and I looked up, shoving the chairs out from beneath us and running towards the door, leaving a trail of chaos behind us both. “Lil’ bit.” Teddy said. “I am so sorry, none of this was meant to happen.”

“Don’t ruin this; you’ve just announced your wedding!”

“Please Charisma, I need to say this.”

I blinked. “Teddy it wasn’t you, it couldn’t have been you.”

“Oh, so it was you was it?” A tear fell from my eye, it went un-noticed by Teddy. “Wolfsbane is so hard to get a-hold of now a days, the moment I can, I use it. But … Urrgh!” he smacked his head against the wall in frustration.

His sentence wasn’t finished and he showed no intention of doing so. He walked around me and went straight to the door.

I ignored the childish comment that I had in my mind and joined him in his quizzical look. I leant on the door frame as he stood straight, rigid with fear.

A tall man with dark blonde hair looked down at me with apologetic eyes, while his colleague large and dumpy twiddled his fingers; but his harsh gaze didn’t leave mine. It was filled with hate.

“Teddy.” The blonde said caringly. “You alright mate?”

He nodded slowly and placed a hand on to my shoulder. “This is Charisma Price.”

“I’m Dean.” Blondie said quietly. “Dean Finnegan; went to school with our Teddy ‘ere.”

I shook his hand with an attempted smile. “Hi.”

The other man didn’t move an inch, only replied with a curt nod. “Can we talk in private?”

“This will do.” Teddy intervened sharply.

“Lupin,” the other warned. “It’s better if we talk insi-“

Teddy scoffed. “I know the procedure Holmes; you don’t have to recite it to me. I have worked under your command for over four years.” I squeezed his arm as a signal to calm down. He sighed deeply. “Just bloody tell me what happened so I can sleep at night.”

Dean punched his friend on the arm teasingly. “As far was we can tell, neither of you did it.” Teddy and I shared a confused and somewhat relieved glance. It was as if we had been set up for a cruel joke. His tone was playful.

“Excuse me?”

“Well, as you know, or Ted knows, I doubt you would Charisma, but Fenrir Greyback was killed shortly after the second Wizarding War. He left a small group of followers in the North countries.”

Teddy blinked as if he understood. “Charisma, alike a new legion of Death eaters, an attempt is being made of a similar kind, but between werewolves. The ministry has been trying to track them down for years.”

“We’re so close.” Dean said apologetically. “This used to be Teddy’s department.”

“Now it’s mine.” Holmes said shortly.

“Yes, I could guess that.” I snapped. I knew I was being rude, but I had no patience. “So, neither Teddy nor I killed my parents.”

Dean shook his head. “No, fortunately not. A new army has been rebuilt; they have been attempting to recruit Teddy for months now. They tracked him down while he was in hiding, and things just went a bit wrong from there.”

I blinked. “So you’re saying that my parents were killed because a Ministry procedure went wrong?”

Dean looked a little flustered. “I’m afraid so. Greyback’s followers were here a few nights ago. They’re in ministry custody now. Every time they come face to face with Ted, he always turns them down and then kicks their arses.” Teddy flushed a little with pride.

“They were here for you?” I practically spat, tears attempting to re-emerge.

The short one cut in. “It’s a possibility that they heard about another werewolf in the area, a slightly different one to their kind; and that they wanted a look.”

“So you’re blaming this on me now?”

Teddy took my hand. “No, love. No one’s blaming you. They’re just saying that it’s more likely they were here for you. It was your parents that they went to after all, maybe they were hoping for blackmail.”

“So how did my parents get involved?”

Dean shrugged. “We talked to the house manager, she said that they were openly speaking about visiting a werewolf of some sort – someone must have overheard them.”

I stayed silent.

Dean spoke again, breaking the heart wrenching silence. “As we said, we’ve caught them; they’re all in Ministry custody, its just getting them to talk that’s the problem.”

“Yes, well thank you.” Teddy announced in his voice that was reserved only for the ministry. “Especially for coming over here, on Christmas and all. But we’ll continue this conversation on Monday?”

Dean nodded. “Of course. We’re sorry to have disturbed you.”

Teddy shut the door and turned to me, slowly sinking down it. “We didn’t do it Chic.” He said quietly. “We didn’t do it.”

I still couldn’t help but think that somehow it wasn’t my fault, but his.

“You know, I still haven’t given you your Christmas present.” James announced, while we walked hand in hand towards his front door.

“Am I getting one?”

We swung our hands high, to and fro as he pulled out a little jewellery box from his other pocket.

“It’s not much, but, I’m sure that you’ll like it.” He handed it too me as I smiled, drunk with happiness. I stopped and opened the box.

It was a small sliver ring that matched his.

“It’s the same as yours.” I said quietly.

He shook his head. “No … it is mine.”

“James.” I stuttered speechless. “How? Why?”

“Grandma Molly gave it to me, as you know, for Christmas many years ago. MY fingers are too bloody fat for it now. They fit yours perfectly … and I know that you have had your eye on it for years Missy.” I smiled sheepishly. “I wanted to do something special with it – it is my favourite possession, apart from my newly acquired Firebolt, after all. You deserve it Charisma; my most special possession for the most special person.”

I instantly hugged him, practically squealing in to his ear.

“Yes James, I will marry you!” I vowed.

“Oh, I’m so glad” He paused for a second, before carrying on with added sarcasm. “I thought that you were going to turn me down for a minute there.”

AN; Thoughts? Here comes the Godzilla-length note.

So it wasn’t Teddy nor Charisma, but others. What do you think about that? Are you disappointed, do you think it will lead to anything else? Are you totally confused?

Thanks for sticking with the story this far, by the way. But I would just like to say, it only has a few more chapters *tear tear*. It was planned with many more, however after re-writing the next five, I think, I realized that they are all horribly short and should all be burned to ashes!

It all goes to JK Rowling - oh and the insight to Charisma's mind was inspiration from an episode of Gilmore Girls. Anyone watch?

So, question time! Out of all of the Characters, who would you date? Who would you like to smack? And who would you like as your best friend?

This is where the little bit of advertising comes in. I have two other stories on my page – Happy Endings and An Object of Interest. Check them out if you wish! An Object of Interest is another James/OC fic, but Happy Endings only has one more chapter before completion. It’s a Lysander/OC and a Sco/Rose, but after that, then comes the sequal – and that is where the fun begins. XD

Okay, so here comes the blessed preview…

He grabbed hold of my practise robes and pulled me towards him, my body dragging in the mud. I squealed like a little girl before he pushed my shoulders, shoving me forcefully towards the ground. In a creepy way – in one that I should be locked away – I rather enjoyed it. My blonde hair had streaks of mud, and my left side was doused in it. Before I could ask, excuse me, kind sir, but what are you doing? He hitched up one leg, flung himself over my waist and sat down.

The next Chapter is called, Hug on the Quidditch Pitch, and featured the point of view from Dixie Pruitt. Drop a little review for me. XXX